The four big challenges of Thomas Tuchel at PSG

The four big challenges of Thomas Tuchel at PSG. Officialized on Monday, Thomas Tuchel will be the new coach of Paris Saint-Germain next season. At the head of a number of stars, he sees stand before him several missions of the highest importance … and sometimes dangerous.

Make a level in the Champions League

This has been the goal of Qatari leaders for a long time: to win the Champions League. However, since the arrival of Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani at the head of the Paris club, never Paris Saint-Germain has passed the quarterfinals of C1. Worse, the recent champion of France remains on two big disappointments in the round of 16 against FC Barcelona (4-0, 1-6) in 2017, and ahead of Real Madrid (1-3, 1-2) this season. Recruited and recognized for his authority and tactical sense, Thomas Kuchel will be almost exclusively judged on his successes in the Champions League, and he will have the challenge to take Paris in the last square or more, echelon that the club has not known since 1995. It will also arrive in to unravel a team that has never eliminated big European champions in the final – at least since the arrival of the Qataris -, the double confrontation against Chelsea in 2015 (1-1, 2-2) being an exception. His predecessors Laurent Blanc and Unai Emery, criticized for their repeated failures in the most beautiful club competitions, have broken their teeth and Tuchel will have to make a clear fault in the eyes of his employer to settle in the long term. Paris.

Tidying up the house

It’s no secret that the management of Paris Saint-Germain leaves something to be desired. Between rivalries and influences, decisions are rarely made unanimously and everyone has their say, even in the choice of the new coach. For Thomas Tuchel, putting order and setting a common guideline on the field of sport seems to be a sine qua non for the success of his work. First with the sports director Antero Henrique, with whom, if it remains, it will be imperative to agree on the transfer market. Then with its president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, little uncompromising against the desiderata of his foals. On the sports side, it will also be necessary to push a “Tuchel leg”. Among others very picky about the lifestyle of his players – he had, in particular, set up a software for sleeping hours in Dortmund – the former BVB will have the task of imposing his methods, radically opposed to those of its predecessors, and to join a workforce with high ambitions.

Manage the Neymar case

It is the jewel of the collection. Neymar, 26 years old, interplanetary star, has, you will have noticed, endless talent. However, it is easy to go straight into the wall with him at the management level and it will take as much talent to Thomas Tuchel to manage the moods of the Brazilian. Not that it is impossible, but this kind of player requires special attention, especially when it was bought 222 million euros and that it represents a sport, economic and political asset. Whether tactically, extra-sportingly or amicably, it is vital to pass the current between the red and blue number 10 and his new superior. Thomas Tuchel must know that he has an outstanding player in his hands and that the management of the international auriverde makes ”

To perpetuate the hegemony of Paris at the national level

If the gap is again very wide between the Paris Saint-Germain and its competitors at the national level, it is nevertheless necessary to continue, year after year, the trophy raid undertaken by the Qataris since their arrival in 2011. Thomas Tuchel He is well aware that he has had the hegemony of Bayern Munich in Germany, to whom he was only able to steal a German Cup in 2017. With the number he will have at his disposal, It would even be ridiculous not to crush the competition flat out. It’s about his credibility and worse, the preparation of his players for the big deadlines. Because if Paris does not have big derbies to play or even classico like a Real-Barça – to prepare, Thomas Tuchel must bring a foolproof requirement to a group that sometimes let go. Reduced to know the very very high level that few times per season at PSG, Thomas Tuchel will still be forced to prepare, mentally and physically, a team to win the Grail. And this obviously involves an impartial and unscrupulous conquest of French competitions.